The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of New Guinea Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Colombo.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Stuttgart, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to develop varieties with good branching, medium plant height, rounded plant habit, early flowering, floriferousness, bright flower color, and large round flowers.
The new cultivar originated from a cross made by the Inventor of the New Guinea Impatiens selection identified as A 069, not patented, as the male, or pollen parent, with the New Guinea Impatiens selection identified as N 368, not patented, as the female, or seed parent.
The cultivar Colombo was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1996 as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Stuttgart, Germany.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Stuttgart, Germany, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.